Earlier this summer, we launched Google SMS, a suite of SMS services in Uganda. One of these services, Google Trader, provides people with greater access to new markets and trade opportunities. The SMS version of Google Trader brings together buyers and sellers of products or services in a "marketplace" using their mobile phones. Whether buying or selling agricultural products, cars, jobs, services, electronics or real estate, anyone can post or search on Google Trader using simple SMS.

Today we are launching the web version of Google Trader, which means that now you can access Google Trader both through SMS and through the web. Anything posted will be available whether you search using 6007 or by going online. With the web version, you can search for multiple items easily, include photos and add more detailed information about the products or services you are selling. We hope that this will make posting and searching even easier and more accessible. The web version of Google Trader is free: everyone can post and search from their own computer, an internet cafe or the browser of their mobile phone. (Regular carrier charges still apply if you access Google Trader via SMS.)

Try out Google Trader today. Check it out online at www.google.co.ug/africatrader. We hope this makes buying and selling easier, more profitable and a lot more fun!